oceania | Marquesas Islands
Fan Handle
Marquesas Islands
Ke’e Tahi’i Fan Handle
19th century
Carved wood
Height: 32 cm – 12 ½ in.
Provenance
Ex collection Lady Brassey, presumably collected during a voyage aboard the “Sunbeam” (1876-1883)
Ex collection Hastings Museum, UK
Ex collection James T. Hooper, Arundel, n°428
Ex collection Wayne Heathcote, London
Ex Christie’s London, 3-4 July 1990, lot 114
Ex private collection, New York
Ex private collection, UK
Literature
« Art and Artefacts of the Pacific, Africa and the Americas, The James Hooper Collection »,
Steven Phelps, Hutchinson Publications, London, 1976, p. 102
Marquesas Fan handle 32 cm / Galerie Flak
Price on request
Veritable insignia of the right to command, Marquesas fans were above all a sign of power and distinction. Only highly placed dignitaries, chiefs and princesses had the right to possess these objects of prestige, whose utilitarian function was to « prolong the effects of a beneficial breath of air » as explained by Marie Noëlle Ottino-Garanger in Kannibals et Vahinés (Chartres, 2002).
Fans were transmitted from generation to generation, and were considered to be inalienable family treasures.
This fan handle with a historic pedigree is composed of two sets of tiki standing back to back, surmounting upside-down figures with elongated faces.
Fans were transmitted from generation to generation, and were considered to be inalienable family treasures.
This fan handle with a historic pedigree is composed of two sets of tiki standing back to back, surmounting upside-down figures with elongated faces.
Publication
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